Method of regulating generation in gas-producers and apparatus therefor.



y LE lRoY c. GHOWNING. A METHOD OF'REGULATING GENERATION 1N.` GAS PRODUCERS AND APPAATUS THEREFOR.

*PPLICATLQMILFP m'z'ma' Patented July 1,1913;

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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LE ROY C. GHOWNING. I' METHOD 0F REGULATING GENERATION IN GAS PRODUGERS AND APPARATUS THERBFOR.

` APPLICATION FILED JAN.25,1913. 1,066,252.

lilllillllllllii Patented July 1, 1913. v

mi noir c. cirotvivi-NG, or oen-Naive, .NEW frenar, nssreiiien or 'TWENTY-stx onuiirun'nnniirns To aLaiisoN is. rroueairoiv AND4 TWENTY-six ONE-Huivnnnn'riis me ARTHUR a. Houeri'roiv, nenn 'or nonnina, NEW vom.

METHOD or REGULATING GENERATION in' ens-PRODUCERS faim lai a niaay-iars minnares.

Speihcaton of Letters-Patent.

'Appiieatidn niea-.anuaryaa i913. 'serial iro.

of charging of the producers. It has heretofore been the practice 'to attempt to compensate for the drop of pressure thusproduced in the mains by the regulation ofthe feedin valves at the several furnaces fed from tie producers, but in practice Where anumber of furnaces are fed through the same pipe line from any producer orconnecte'd group thereof, a change 'in the valve of one furnace reacts back upon the pressure at the other furnaces, thus disturbing the equilibrium that shouldo exist. Inasmuch as with many'types of furnaces now in use for diierent purposes, close and equal tem* pcratur-e regulation, which 'in turn is dependent upon the gast pressure is necessary, the method of regulating to ,compensate for lvariation in the rate of gas generation, by

` individual valves for each furnace is not practicable, and my present invention has for itsobject to obviate the objections above pointed out by maintaining uniform the pressure in the main fed by the producer and su' plying the furnace. Thus the pressurco' the gas generated by 'thek producer is maintained constant, and the valves at the several furnaces are only used to properly distribute the gas so produced among the several furnaces or for increasing or decreasing the amount of gas so supplied thereto to compensate for a variation of the heat units of the gas as produced. By.

maintaining the uniform pressure in the mains supplied by the producer, the interaction of the furnace valves upon each other is prevented,`in that any variation of consumption at one furnace is immediately compensated for by a variation in the rate of generation of the producer. com lish by feeding the steam and air' fed to lie producer through a Steam-inJectOr,

the action 'of which i's 'regulated ,hy 'c0'nv trolling the amount of steam passed ltherethrough by a valve controlled by the pressure in the gas mainfed lo 'the producer. My preferred construction or accomplishing this comprises a diaphragm to one side of 'which the pressure from the `as .producer main -is communicated, an w ich, by its movement controls the steam valve of the i'n"ec't or. Inas'much, however,v as the gases, thel pressure of which it is desired to regulate 'iin industrial Worlr, enerally carry4 un'Xed hydrocarbons whicn', on cooling,

.Patented Jaiy i, 1'9 is.

tendrto deposit' and clog and other ise imi pair Ithe action of the apparatus, pre er to transmit the pressure of the gas to the diaphragm, not by 'admitting the ,producer gas to ,one side thereof, .but through the intermediary of a Huid piston which may consist of clean gases, such as atmospheric air. This may be accomplished by filling the pipe communicating with the gas main and with. the diaphragm with atmospheric air. lt is advisable, moreover, to introduce a uniform but limited quantity of such air adjacent- 'to the diaphragm and to permitit to slowly tiovv back into the main against the pressure therein. By these means any leakage o'f the diaphragm is rendered negligible, and diffusion of the air and the gas is prevented, whereby any entrance of producer gas into the pipe between the gas main and the iaphragm, which would otherwise clog such pipe, is obviated.

My invention therefore consists in a method of maintaining uniform the pressure generated in a producer by'varying the amount of steam and air admitted to the.

producer due to variations in the pressure of the gas produced thereby, which variation may be produced through the instrumentality of a fluid piston, and in the construction, arrangement and combination 'of the several parts whereby the results abovedesc-ribed are obtained. r

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which cor spendi' parts are designate( by corresponv ing inar s of reference-Fig'- urc l is a diagrammatic View of a rodueer having my invention appliedth'ere o. lFig. 2 is a fraginental View of the diaphragm pressure regulator hand 'the valve-controlling connections thereof, partly in section on line @n2-m2 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical section showing the same parts as Fig. 2, the line of section being at right angles to that 'of Fig. 2.

- individual controlling valve 4. It Will be noted that a variation in the position of any one of these valves causes variation in the 'demand on the main, and thus the opening of one valve due to a decrease of pressure in such main causes a further decrease of pressure therein due to the increased outflow therefrom, thus reacting back upon the other valves and necessitating adjustment thereof. To avoid this is the object of 'this invention.

As shown the steam and air is fed to the `producer through a steam injector 5, the

' steam induction pipe 6 of Which terminates in a suitable nozzle adapted to force the air below the charge of the producer. The amount of steam lfed to the injector is regulated by a piston valve 7, preferably of the balanced type to facilitate its ease of Working, the piston rod 8 of which is connected by a floating lever 9 having one end carriedby the link 10 and having its opposite end connected by the link 11 to the lever 12. The lever 12 is supported yin a pendant bracket 13 from a frame Work 14 which supports a tank 15 having. fluid induction pipe 16. Within the tank is contained aI bell 17 having dependent sides 18 extending below the normal fluid level inthe tank, the bell having centrally mounted thereon and depending therefrom a sleeve 19 practically of the same length as the height of the depending sides. This sleeve surrounds a corresponding sleeve 20 fast to and rising` from the central portion of the bottom of the tank to above the normal liquid level therein. d i

Contained Within the sleeves 19 and 20 and Working in a central opening in the bottom of the tank and in a ide 21 formed by brackets 22 depending om the frame work 14, and in a guide formed by a frame Work 23 abovethe tank, is a guide rod 24 Which passes through and is secured to the center of the bell and has its lower end connected by a link 25 With one end of the lever 12. This rod serves to guide the bell 17 in its up and down movement and a counter- Weight 2 6 is placed upon the lever to. regulate the pressure necessary to actuate the diaphragm formed by the bell. A pipe 27 entersA the tank from the bottom thereof and terminates therein above the normal liquid level thereof, this pipe being connected by a pipe 28 to the gas main. This k,pipe is of small size in diameter relative to the gas -main and merely serves to transmit the pressure in the main to the under side of the diaphragm formed by the bell.

As above constructed, it will be seen that a variation of pressure in the gas main4 produced by any cause, either by the variation of production in the gas, or the return of consumption thereof inthe furnaces, will be transmitted to the underside of the diaphragm formed by the bell and will disturb the pre-existing equilibrium established by thel counter-we1ght and will thus cause a movement of the steam valve and thus a variation in the amount of steam permitted to pass therethrough to the injector and thus a variation in the amount of steam and air fed to the fuel for the production of steam and gas, whereby the pressure 1n the main will be maintained constant.

So far as has been described, my invention contemplates the movement of the diaphragm directly by the producer gas, but this is objectionable in that such gas is frequently unclean and carries tars and hydrocarbons which deposit upon the cooling thereof. Such gases' in entering the pipes 27 and 28 will be trapped and held f .such for instance as atmospheric' air or one of the fixed gases, and for this purpose lead into the vertical connection pipe 27, a pipe- 29 through which atmospheric air, etc., may be introduced to fill the regulating pipe line, and thus prevent the entrance there-1n of the producer of gas. It is further desirable 1 n order to prevent the loss of this atmospheric air by leakage or diffusion to ermlt a steady and uniform How of atmosp eric air, etc., through the pipe. 28 and this may be 'accomplished by connecting tothe air induction pipe 27 a suitable source of compressed air through which a minute quantity of air may be uniformly fed.V In practice I'have found that with a main of six feet in diameter, sutiicient air for the urpose above set forth may be introduced lt rough an aperture of .05 inchat 20 pounds pressure. An air induction pi e 29, having a feed aperture 31 is accordingly shown for this purpose. This results in constantly maintaining the air piston in the regulator line and in a slight., out-flow therefrom against such pressure as niay exist in the gas main, forcing back any gas which attempts to enter the regulator line and preventing diffusion of such gas in such line. The air that flows out burns with imperfect combustion in the gas main and does not affect the gas supply. It will be noted that with this slight introduction of air inthe regulator line that the pressure at the diaphragm is still dependent upon the pressure in the main, in that the back pressurel existing is a function of the gas pressure in the gas main, which pressure determines the out-flow of the air and thus the pressure existing at the diaphragm.

In practice several producer units may feed a single main, and in such case my invention may be-applied thereto by taking branches from the steam induction pipe 6, as is shown at (ia in Fig. 1, whereby a single steam valve controls the steamjflow to thev injectors of the several producers.

In order to protect the diaphragm/ regulator, I inclose the tank and bell thereof in a cover 33. For the purpose of maintaining constant the water level in the tank I apply a water seal 34 to the base of the vertical inlet pipe 27, which thus serves as an additional overow pipe for the tank in case the usual water outlet pipe becomes clogged and is located at the side of the tank uat a point .where the water is to be maintained at a constant level.

Having tlus described my invention what I claim and desire to` secure by Letters Patent is I. rlihe hereinbefore described process of regulating the feed of steam and air to a producer by variation in the pressure of the gas generated therein through the instrumentality of a steam Valve controlled bythe generated pressure, which consists in interposing between the valve and the pressure of the producer a fluid piston of atmospheric air.

2. The hereinbeforedescribed process of regulating the feed of steam and air of a gas producer by variation of the pressure generated in the producer, through the instrumentality of a diaphragmvalve, which consists in subject-ing` the.diaphragm valve to a pressure of clean air which is dependent upon the pressure of the generated gases of the producer and in feeding a const-ant but limited quantity of clean gases adjacent to the diaphragm.

-3. The combination with a producer, a steam-operated air injector therefor, a gas main fed by the producer, a diaphragm controlling the How of steam to the injector, and a connection between one side of the diaphragm and the main, the said connection containing atmospheric air.

4. The combination with a producer, a steam-operated ail' injector therefor, a gas main fed by the producer, a diaphragm controlling the flow of steam to the injector, and a connection between one side of the diaphragm and the main, and means for feeding a limited amount of air under pressure to the said connection.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LE ROY C. CHOWNING.

Witnesses: v

- BEATRICE A. SPORR,

ALBERT L. KREY. 

